Software developers invest large sums of money in developing software, and regain that investment from their sales of software. Pirating of software enables someone who has not paid for the software to use it without paying. This can become a huge loss of revenue for the software companies.
The ability to pirate software is aided by technology. Many programs exist for copying CDs, even write protected CDs. Other programs and Internet sites are exclusively dedicated to finding ways to avoid any write protection or other pirate protection which is placed on a program. For example, certain Internet sites are dedicated exclusively to providing “crack” programs for time-limited versions of software. Other sites list authorized serial numbers for software.
Copy protection mechanisms have been used for protecting software against unauthorized use. Many of these copy protection mechanisms make the program harder to use by authorized users, and are hence disfavored by the public. These copy protection mechanisms often prevent even the authorized user from adequately using their program.
Many software manufacturers use at least some kind of security to attempt to ensure that the user of the program is in fact authorized. High ticket programs often use a “dongle”, which may be a physical connector with special encryption codes stored therein. The program cannot be used without the dongle being physically attached to the computer.
Other systems require a long serial number to be entered. The program checks the serial number to determine if it meets a specified checksum condition. However, since CDs are often made from molds, the CDs which are produced are often precisely the same as each other CD that is produced. Therefore, any serial number that in fact correctly works on any program will work for all of the copies of the programs. Hence, as described above, the serial numbers may be improperly distributed over the Internet to thwart this security system.
Another technique has required the user to answer a question which could only be answered by someone who was in possession of the owners manual for the software. For example, the “Wolfenstein” program required an answer about what was listed on a specified page of the manual. This technique was so intrusive that actual owners of the software were often prevented from using the software.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,403 suggested personalizing a copy of software using a fingerprint reader at the point of sale. However, this required that the software media itself be personalized. This may not be easily done, especially with read only media such as CDs and DVDs.